§ 412.190 Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating.

(a) Purpose. (1) The Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating (Overall Star Rating) is a summary of certain publicly reported hospital measure data for the benefit of stakeholders, such as patients, consumers, and hospitals.

(2) The guiding principles of the Overall Star Rating are as follows. In developing and maintaining the Overall Star Ratings, we strive to:

(i) Use scientifically valid methods that are inclusive of hospitals and measure information and able to accommodate underlying measure changes;

(ii) Align with Hospital Compare or its successor website and CMS programs;

(iii) Provide transparency of the methods for calculating the Overall Star Rating; and

(iv) Be responsive to stakeholder input.

(b) Data included in Overall Star Rating—(1) Source of data. The Overall Star Rating is calculated based on measure data collected and publicly reported on Hospital Compare or its successor site under the following CMS hospital inpatient and outpatient programs:

(i) Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program—section 1886(b)(3)(B)(viii)(VII) of the Act.

(ii) Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program—section 1886(p)(6)(A) of the Act.

(iii) Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program—section 1886(o)(10)(A) of the Act.

(iv) Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program—section 1886(q)(6)(A) of the Act.

(v) Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program—section 1833(t)(17)(e) of the Act.

(2) Hospitals included in Overall Star Rating. Subsection (d) hospitals subject to the CMS quality programs specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section that also have their data publicly reported on one of CMS' websites are included in the Overall Star Rating.